The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Monarda plant, botanically known as Monarda didyma and hereinafter referred to by the name ‘Sugar Lace’.
The new Monarda plant is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Rijpwetering, The Netherlands. The objective of the breeding program is to create new compact and freely flowering Monarda plants that are resistant to Powdery Mildew.
The new Monarda plant originated from a cross-pollination made during the summer of 2006 of Monarda didyma ‘Pink Lace’, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 18,367, as the female, or seed, parent with Monarda didyma ‘Pink Supreme’, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 14,204, as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Monarda plant was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a single flowering plant from within the progeny of the stated cross-pollination grown in a controlled environment in Rijpwetering, The Netherlands during the summer of 2007.
Asexual reproduction of the new Monarda plant by softwood cuttings in Rijpwetering, The Netherlands, since the summer of 2007, has shown that the unique features of this new Monarda plant are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.